


You Can Never Leave Neverland

by mishasbabyminion



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Parenthood, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 04:01:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18380555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mishasbabyminion/pseuds/mishasbabyminion
Summary: Killian had a problem. Killian's daughter was the cause of the problem. Why couldn't he leave that bloody island in the past?





	You Can Never Leave Neverland

_“Swan!”_

Killian’s panicked voice floated up from the living room where he was watching a movie with their four-year-old daughter and David, interrupting Emma’s early-afternoon nap. She groaned as she awkwardly swung her legs to the side of the bed and forced herself up: being in her seventh month of pregnancy had made it hard for her to get in and out of bed, and she was not in the mood to deal with whatever Killian was worrying about.

She felt bad for feeling that way, but she was still bitter that their daughter had climbed into bed with them, kicking her awake and keeping her up all night while Killian slept peacefully beside her.

Needless to say, she was not going to be pleased if Killian was losing his mind over another scraped knee or slight bruise with which their daughter had presented him.

_“SWAN!”_

“I’m _coming!_ ” she yelled at her husband, slowly making her way to the stairs.

As she descended, she could hear Killian and David bickering, the television playing quietly in the background, and her daughter’s annoyed voice saying “daddy” and “grampy” over and over again, trying to get their attention.

Emma stopped on the bottom of the steps and listened for a moment; she couldn’t tell what the movie was that Hope was watching, but she could identify it as some sort of Disney movie. Now, she knew that most Disney movies were a sore subject for the occupants of Storybrooke, but her daughter loved the catchy show tunes and the colorful images that accompanied the songs.

And it helped that Emma grew up watching them.

“You were _there_ , David!” Emma heard Killian argue. “You should know better than anyone else what that demon child could do!”

“It’s a _cartoon_ , Killian,” David countered. “You don’t see Snow or myself getting frustrated about how we were portrayed in our movies! Do you even _realize_ how many ‘Prince Charmings’ there are within Disney’s culture?”

 _Ah_ , Emma thought. _Hope had discovered the wondrous perm that is Captain Hook in Peter Pan._

  
She made her way into the room and realized that Hope hadn’t even reached the parts of the movie with Captain Hook—Killian was offended by the fact that Peter Pan is the hero, not the villain. Her husband, father, and daughter all turned to her as she made her way into the room, each with varying levels of frustration upon their faces.

“Mommy,” Hope said seriously. “Daddy is being mean to Peter Pan and you need to tell him ‘stop it’.”

“ _Stop it,_ Daddy,” Emma teased, mirth evident in her eyes.

“Now Hope, darling,” Killian got down on his knee in front of their daughter and took her face in his hands. “You don’t know Peter Pan like Daddy does. Peter Pan is a demon, not a man.”

“Killian,” Emma warned quietly. “She’s only four. She doesn’t need to hear all of this.”

“Yeah, Killian. Your daughter doesn’t need to hear your old war stories,” David taunted. “Save that for when she has her own children and you’re an even older man on your front porch yelling at people to get off your lawn.”

Emma sighed and ran her hand through her hair before pressing it to her lower back. “Killian, it’s a movie. Let your daughter watch it and if you don’t like it, leave the room.” She turned to her father next. “Dad, you need to leave Killian alone. I saw how you reacted when you watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarves for the first time and saw that the cartoon version of yourself wore lipstick and had a bowl cut.”

Killian and David exchanged looks but nodded at Emma to show their agreement.

“Hope, honey?” Emma turned to her daughter and pulled her into a big hug before whispering in her ear. “Make sure that your daddy watches the part where Captain Hook comes on the screen, okay?”

“’Kay, Mommy,” Hope looked up with a smile before grabbing her father and grandfather’s hands and pulling them back to the couch to finish watching the movie.

Content that the problem was solved for the next ten minutes or so, Emma made her way to the kitchen to start making family dinner.

It was twenty minutes later when she heard Killian’s enraged shout of “WHAT” and David’s laughter.

CS*CS*CS*CS

  
“Mommy, can we give baby a Nev-er-land nurs’rey?” Hope asked Emma, dragging her stuffed crocodile into her parents’ room at six in the morning.

Emma was feeling sluggish and in pain due to her baby trying to make its way into the realm of the living, so she didn’t fully process what was being asked of her that early. She rolled to her side and pulled Hope and her stuffed crocodile into bed with her and Killian, wrapping her daughter up in her arms.

“Sleep, baby,” she whispered. “You’re safe.”

“ _No,_ Mommy!” Hope said, pushing her way out of her mother’s arms and falling onto Killian, waking him up. “Wanna give baby a Nev-er-land nurs’rey!”

“Not this bloody thing again,” Killian mumbled. “Hope, for the _last time,_ no.”

“But _Daddy!"_

Emma laughed into her pillow before forcing herself to sit up, her hand rubbing over the swell of her stomach. “Baby, the nursery is already done, remember? We gave the baby an elephant nursery just like yours was all owls.”

“But baby needs _Nev-er-land!”_ Hope insisted.

Killian grumbled to himself before he got out of bed to start his morning routine. Emma laughed again at her husband’s grumbled hatred for his daughter’s favorite movie and pulled Hope back into her arms.

“Maybe after we have breakfast Daddy will be more open to Neverland, baby,” Emma whispered.

“Can we give baby a ‘dile too, Mommy?”

“How about a stuffed Captain Hook instead?”

Emma watched Hope’s face light up in the most stunning grin she had ever seen and laughed once more before getting herself and her daughter out of bed for breakfast.

CS*CS*CS*CS

  
“ _Emma!_ ” Killian yelled from the backyard, his voice breaking on the second syllable. “Love, _I need your help please!_ ”

Emma checked on their son in his Pack’N’Play; he was sitting up and mashing his soft blocks together, his stuffed Hook leaned against the side wall. She knew that he would be content for a few minutes while she checked on her husband and she smiled.

For a girl who had once had nothing, she now knew what it was to have everything.

_“EMMA!”_

She rolled her eyes and walked to the back of the house. She walked out the back, expecting to see her husband and daughter playing in her treehouse pirate ship. Emma was not expecting to see Killian tied up to the tree with Hope’s jump ropes, her daughter laughing hysterically from the ground next to her father.

“Hope, baby, why did you tie Daddy to the tree?” Emma asked, trying to keep a straight face and keep the laughter from her voice.

“Because Peter Pan always gets the bad guy, Mommy!”

Hope looked so proud of herself that Emma couldn’t help but laugh at her husband’s predicament. “Baby, why is Daddy the bad guy?”

“’Cause Daddy is Cap’n Hook!”

Killian groaned and looked down at the hook laying on the ground next to him. “She took my hook, Swan,” he complained. “The little sneak thief took my hook while I was responding to a textual message that your father sent me on my talking phone.”

Emma laughed again before leaning down and untying the ropes from around her husband. “Are you telling me that our five-year-old got the jump on you, oh fearless Captain?”

“She told me she wanted a cuddle,” he mumbled.

Emma heard her daughter's giggle from beside her and knew that her husband had been conned because of his good heart; there was nothing she could do about it.

"Hope, we can't tie Daddy up to the tree any more, okay?" Emma said in a faux-serious voice. "And we _definitely_ can't take Daddy's hook away from him."

"Okay, Mommy," Hope agreed with a serene smile. "Am I still allowed to play Nev'er'land with Daddy?"

Killian groaned and let his head hit the tree, and Emma laughed once more.

CS*CS*CS*CS

  
Hope had just turned seven years old and the fascination with Peter Pan would not let up. Killian had tried everything to get his daughter to love that movie about Emma’s friend Elsa, but to no avail: Hope just _loved_ Peter Pan. And now she had gotten her younger brother Gavin obsessed with the film as well.

They spent most of their days holed up in the pirate ship tree house modeled to look like his Jolly Roger, but cursed the character of Captain Hook. Killian knew better than to be hurt by his children’s actions, but there was some level of his subconscious that thought Pan was messing with him from beyond the grave.

Emma thought he was insane and stated that children would find the thing you hated most in the world and love it more than anything else.

He was starting to believe her.

“Daddy!” Hope yelled from inside her playhouse. “Bring us snacks or walk the plank!”

Killian rolled his eyes and looked up at his daughter, fully dressed up as Peter Pan, with Gavin dressed as one of his Lost Boys. “Why should I bring snacks to my enemy?” he teased.

“Because we’re the _good guys!_ ” Hope insisted. “And we demand snacks as payment for letting you walk free!”

“Yeah!” Gavin chimed in, beating his fist in the air for emphasis.

Killian rolled his eyes and turned back into the house to grab the plate of apple slices, peanut butter, cheese, and crackers that Emma had prepared before going into the station this morning.

Sometimes, being the most vicious pirate to ever sail the seven seas meant that you had to concede and get the “good guys” snacks before you were forced to walk the plank by your children.

Sometimes, being Captain Hook meant that “Peter Pan” had to win.

CS*CS*CS*CS

  
“Daddy?” Hope asked as Killian tucked her into bed one night. “Why do you hate Peter Pan so much?”

Killian didn’t know how to answer: on the one hand, he could tell her everything about Neverland, her brother Henry, and how he had to fight for every moment of his life upon that bloody island; on the other hand, this was his princess—his pride and joy—and he couldn’t break apart her hopes and dreams and love of the fairy tale.

“Well,” he started, running his hand through her dark curls, “do you remember how everyone you know is someone from a fairy tale, little love?”

“Of course, Daddy,” she said seriously. “Grampy is Prince Charming, Grandma is Snow White, and you’re the real Captain Hook!”

“In our world, Peter Pan is not a very nice man,” he explained. “He did some not nice things to your brother Henry when we were on Neverland.”

“You went to Neverland?”

“Haven’t I told you this, sweet love?”

Hope shook her head and Killian pulled the blankets up higher to tuck her in, laying down beside her and pulling her close. “Once upon a time…”

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is for my amazing friend, Abby. While I didn't go fully into our conversation about Hope dressing up for Halloween as Peter Pan, I think I made some adorable fluffy moments :)
> 
> Side note--I got the name "Gavin" out of "Gawain" who is by far the most noble of the Round Table Knights. I thought the name would fit the son of Killian Jones and Emma Swan. Plus, I am really sick of OUAT naming children after dead people.
> 
> For more gross fluff, follow me on Tumblr under the same username.
> 
> Wanna talk or commission a fic? Send me a chat!


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